Government upgrades status of CCT employees

The government has approved the employment status upgrade of 4,885 employees working under the conditional cash transfer program (CCT) or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

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In a statement on Wednesday, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the job order status of 4,885 employees will be upgraded to contractual status coterminous with the project which will run until 2016.

Besides their regular salaries, 295 employees from the central office and 4,590 Pantawid Pamilya from the field offices will be entitled to additional allowances until 2016. The budget agency noted that these benefits were normally given only to regular employees

“Central to the success of any project is the dedication and welfare of the people working behind it. The administration’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is no exception. If we expect the smooth and efficient implementation of the program, we definitely need to take care of our DSWD personnel, especially those who have only been working under job contracts,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

The DBM explained that as coterminous contractual employees, the DSWD employees working under the CCT program will now enjoy Government Service Insurance System and Pag-IBIG fund memberships, health insurance, employee’s compensation insurance, vacation and sick leaves and their monetization and payment of terminal leave benefits.

The total P1.56-billion Personal Services (PS) requirement for the converted 4,885 positions will be sourced from the total authorized P3.35-billion PS appropriation of the 4Ps under the 2014 General Appropriations Act, the DBM noted.

“Such a move is particularly important now, since we’re expanding the program to cover more beneficiaries. After all, the additional responsibilities and functions of the program must be well-accounted for by capable staff,” Abad said.

The 4Ps ensures that Filipino children remain in school and are healthy. This year, the program was given a P62.6-billion budget and was further expanded to accommodate 4.3 million households and 4.3 million children in high school, among others.

“Upgrading the job status of Pantawid Pamilya employees will play a huge part in the achievement of the specific targets set by the program. In the long term, it should also allow us to see the program through until 2016 and help us meet our poverty reduction goals,” Abad said.

The budget chief also noted that the department on March 28 approved the conversion of 4,140 4Ps job order employees assigned to the provincial and municipality or city operations offices to contractual status and coterminus with the project as well.

The latest issued authorization formalizes a total of 9,025 contractual positions bound by the definite lifespan of the 4Ps until 2016 nationwide, it said.